MetroFi can’t even fail without screwing it up!
Posted by Russell Senior on 2 August 2008In the June 20 Oregonian, Mike Rogoway reported that:
“The company told city officials this week that it plans to start taking down those antennas July 1 and complete the work by July 30.”
However, there is no evidence as of today, August 1, that any SkyPilots or any other gear has been removed from the public right-of-way.
Little birds have told me that MetroFi was looking to have the gear taken down by contractors for what seems like a ridiculously small amount of money, $30/device. That’s less than the $50/device that they have posted as bond in case the company goes out of business before the gear is removed.
Section 8.25.6 of the agreement with the city stipulates:
“Removal of Equipment. In the event that the City and Licensee are not able to achieve the retention of operations of the System, the City may require the removal of System components from City owned poles within the Municipal Right of Way and Municipal Facilities, as well as third parties’ properties, in accordance with ORS 221.470. Licensee shall maintain a reserve account or bond sufficient to complete this removal, with the instrument approved by the City, to ensure that in the event of bankruptcy or other dissolution of Licensee that the City has access to funds necessary to complete such removal. Initial reserve amount shall be $5,000 per 100 facilities mounted within the Municipal Right of Way.
Should removal be required, the City retains, at its sole discretion, the right to take ownership of the assets that remain in the Municipal Right of Way in lieu of involving the security instrument pursuant to ORS 221.470.”
Reviewing ORS 221.470, we find this:
“Removal of structures on expiration of grant or franchise. (1) All property and materials (including poles, posts, towers, wires, conduits, mains, pipes, rails, tracks, ties, railways, pole lines, telegraph, telephone or electric transmission lines, or structures or equipment of any kind) placed in, on, upon, over, under or beneath any public highway, street or alley of this state or municipal corporation, under or by virtue of any grant, privilege or franchise, shall be removed by the owners or owner of the same within one year after the expiration of the grant, privilege or franchise, which permitted the erection or installation of the same, unless further time is granted by the municipal corporation having authority so to do.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, if all the property and materials referred to in subsection (1) of this section are not removed within one year after the termination or expiration of the grant, privilege or franchise or such further time as may be granted by the state or municipal corporation, all and every part thereof shall be forfeited and escheated to the state or municipal corporation wherein situated.
(3) The state or municipal corporation may notify the owner of the property and materials referred to in subsection (2) of this section that it waives forfeiture and escheat under subsection (2) of this section and may thereafter compel removal of such property and materials from the public highways, streets and alleys and restoration of the public highways, streets and alleys and may maintain court suit to require such removal and restoration by the owner or the payment of the cost thereof by the owner. [Amended by 1957 c.136 §1]“
So, I guess the clock is ticking. It’ll be interesting to see if they can manage to beat the buzzer. They only have a year.
A 501 Tech Club Event from NTEN
Posted by Russell Senior on 18 July 2008NTEN is putting on a panel session at the end of the month relating to wifi in Portland. The MetroFi experience will be included.
Join with members of the Personal Telco Project, NTEN and the City of Portland to learn more about and discuss the history, progress, and future of municipal wireless. This is a great opportunity to hear about efforts like MetroFi and Personal Telco, as well as how you can get involved in improving your neighborhood’s networks.
DATE: Thursday, July 31st
TIME: 6 pm - 8 pm
PLACE: Lucky Lab Brew Hall (SE Hawthorne)
MetroFi network has been turned off
Posted by Russell Senior on 1 July 2008Apparently sometime around 5pm this afternoon, the MetroFi network was turned off, sources say. For the last few weeks, the ads and splash page had been turned off, and today, a day later than they’d indicated to the press, the MetroFi-Free and MetroFi-Premium SSIDs apparently got switched off. We are going to make an brief foray this evening to confirm, but it looks like the MetroFi experiment in Portland is over.
Unwired PDX Watch seeks MetroFi insiders for explanation
Posted by Russell Senior on 25 June 2008For the last year or so, in furtherance of the educational mission of the Personal Telco Project as well as to satisfy our own curiosities, we have been seeking insights and explanations of some of the engineering decisions made by MetroFi. We requested speakers for the Personal Telco Project’s monthly meetings from MetroFi via Denise Graab. Regrettably, despite some promises, we never got any followup, perhaps because Denise left the company last autumn. We remain interested in understanding what went right, what went wrong, and the perspective of the network engineers at MetroFi. We had the good fortune to have an extended conversation with technical people from SkyPilot Networks shortly after our Proof of Concept study, and we would certainly welcome similar interactions with those at (or formerly at) MetroFi. If anyone is willing to share their experience and perspective, please get in touch with us and perhaps we can set something up. Thanks!